The Streets of Manhattan
by LuckydaNewsie
Summary: Jack Kelly, leader of the Manhattan Newsies, returns to Manhattan after trying to make a name for himself out West. However, he comes to see that many things have changed including his, now a well known Manhattan prostitute. REMAKE OF GROWING PAINS!


"Get rid of it."

"No. No, Martin. No!" A blonde woman was on the bed, after going through a long, hard labor. The cries of a newborn baby could be heard coming through the paper-thin walls. He slapped her face, causing her to turn sharply to the right. Tears sprung to her eyes although her pride did not allow them to fall.

The tall man was a picture of forbidding strength. He had a dark look about it, which was even further darkened by this woman's defiance. A closer look at this women showed that she was about 20, but the lines etched on her face would make some believe that she was closer to 35.

"This will forever change things between us." He said, an edge of bitterness to his rough voice. "Don't expect me to ever desire you again." With those short words, he gathered his jacket and hat and stormed through the door. It was only then did that young, hardened woman let her tears fall.

"Anne. Will you please bring the child to me?" She called. A young maid brought the newborn baby to its mother's side. Tears pouring down her face, she ran her slender finger across the child's cheek. "You will be my saving grace. Through you, I will be redeemed." She said to the little baby girl.

10 years later

"Jack." A little girl with blonde braids yelled from her doorstep. "Where did you go?" A little boy around the age of 13 crept up behind the pretty picture of innocence.

"Boo!" He cried. The little girl jumped, almost falling down the steps if Jack had not caught her.

"Frances Jack Sullivan!" The little girl yelled, stamping her foot. "It is not nice to go scaring ladies!"

"Gracie Miller, you're not a lady. You're just a girl." He grinned at her and tugged gently on one of her braids. "Besides, if you yell anymore at me, I won't give you a treat I got just for you." Her blue eyes lit up with a smile.

"What did you get for me, Jack?" He tousled her blonde hair. He handed her a piece of chocolate. "Did you steal this? You know how I feel about stealing."

"Of course not, Gracie girl. I just temporarily borrowed it." She grinned wickedly to show a mouth full of chocolate. The door to their apartment building opened and the two children were thrust aside, as a tall, dark man pushed his way down the stairs. He paused at the bottom of the stairs to look at Grace.

"Thank God you look like your mother." She heard him say before he got into the carriage that was awaiting him.

"Mommy, who was that man who left our apartment earlier today?" Grace asked her mother, as their maid, Anne, served dinner. Anne exchanged a look with Grace's mother.

"Well honey. That's your daddy. He just has other things to do most of the time and that's why he's never here."

"But Jack's dad lives with him. And Jack even gets presents from his daddy on his birthday and Christmas. How come my daddy never gives me anything?" Grace looked at her mother with her wide blue eyes. "Does he think I'm ugly and that's why he never talks to me?" Grace's mother laughed.

"Oh dearest. You are one of the prettiest girls I've ever seen and that's the truth. I'm sure even God would mistake you for one of his angels if he saw you. Your daddy just has another family. He pays for this apartment and your clothes and that's his way of showing he cares. He just can't do things that regular daddies do. You must never mention it to him either. Do you understand?" Grace nodded. Somehow, she decided, she was going to make her daddy see what her mother saw in her. However, that was the last time she ever saw her father.

3 years later

"God, Jack. I was so stupid. She was just a common whore like those made-up dames that we see by the docks. So what if she just whored her body to one man who didn't even care about her enough to even attend her own funeral? She remained faithful to him for 11 years and he couldn't even attend her own funeral?" Grace Miller, a pretty girl with blonde curls and blue eyes filled with tears, threw a daisy onto her mother's grave. Jack stood by as she paid her last respects, and then went and put her arms around her. "What am I going to do now, Jack? I have no mother, no money. Can we just pick up and leave? Please. Take me away." She sobbed into his shoulder.

"One day I'll take you away Gracie. I promise." Jack rubbed her shoulder. "In the meantime, I bet someone in our building knows somewhere you could get a job. And I bet you could at least keep your apartment." The young girl looked up at him and bravely smiled through her tears. "Maybe you could even be a newsie with me."

She laughed. "Ladies aren't newsies, Jack Sullivan." He gently tugged one of her curls.

"Whoever said you were a lady?" He teased.

"I'm leaving Grace. I'm going out West." Grace Miller, now 15, looked up, an expression of shock on her face, temporarily pausing in her sewing at the desk.

"You're joking. However, I must say that this is not my idea of a good joke."

"I'm not joking, Grace." Jack said in complete seriousness.

"You must be. You can't just leave New York, your friends, leave me. What would I do without you? I don't know how I would've gotten through the past two years without you, Jack. You must be kidding." She set her sewing on her desk at the seamstress' office where she had been working for the past two years.

"I'm completely serious. My mom's dead. My dad's in jail, or dead – no one really knows. I'm getting too old too be a newsie. This is my chance Gracie. I have to take it – I may never get to do this again." Jack stroked her rosy cheek that was now damp with tears.

"What am I going to do?" Grace asked, casting her eyes downward so that Jack would not see the pain in them.

"You have the other newsies that look upon you like a sister. You'll be fine. If there's one thing you are not, it's weak. You've always been strong and independent and that won't change without me here." She smiled.

"You're right. I'm just going to miss you. Go actually learn how to ride a horse instead of pretending like you do. Maybe you can actually live up to the nickname of Cowboy. Just come back eventually. This is where you belong." Grace said, brushing hair out of his face. "Keep in touch. I'm going to miss you horribly – I don't think there's been a day in my life where I haven't seen you."

"Don't worry, Gracie girl. You'll always have a part of me. And I'll defiantly write." Jack said softly. He looked at her for a long time and then leaned down and kissed her softly. "Bye." He said to her after a moment, turning around and shutting the door to the seamtress shop behind him. She looked at him through the window, tears streaming down her face. Little did she know but later on in her life, she would mark this moment at which all the ties which bound her to her childhood were broken.

A/N: This wasn't the strongest first chapter, but it will get better. And Grace is not a Mary Sue whatsoever. I am looking for a couple of characters, but they have to be from different backgrounds and will not necessarily be newsies. Let me know what you think about it – I've defiantly been out of practice of writing.


End file.
